Bat Melech- Daughter of The King

"Sometimes you meet your destiny on the way you take to avoid it." Kung Fu Panda

"In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall" (Psalm 18:29)

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!" (Isaiah 52:7)

Her name is Bat Melech, and I personally think this name suits her better than the one our parents gave her. She's been my best friend since I can remember and we've been everywhere together through thik and thin. If I have not given up on myself so far is because no matter how bad I ended up, (and trust me I do not exaggerate) somehow Bat Melech chose to see good in me. She will not like it at all that I put her on my "hall of fame" next to Joseph, David, the Man Jesus and Paul, but this is my blog and I am writing about my teachers, the ones who influenced my walk, and she's up there with them.

We talked all the time when we were in the same country (we can carry on for hours at end) and we talk all the time now. We discuss about things Adonai does in us, we debate, we analyse, we think and somehow at the end of a conversation, I find myself going and writing things down, because I realise I learnt something new. Her destiny will forever be linked to Israel, I can't think about Israel without thinking of Bat Melech or the other way around. I remember, when we started our walk with God, I read the Gospel of Luke, she read Isaiah:-)

She knows me better than anyone else, because she had the love and patience to stick by me when I wasn't so lovable. She was the first one who started challenging me about my walk with God (I will be honest, it was more of a crawling than walking, because I was landing on my face every other week). I remember in 2006, I was going through a "mid-twenties crisis" (or at least that's my excuse) and I called her in tears telling her "I've had it, I'm giving up. I tried, but I can't make it. This is too hard." I felt like God brought me here away from all that's familiar, only to abandon me because I am useless, so I might as well give up before He goes. Bat Melech listened to my childish mumblings and when I calmed down she started telling me about the Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15:21-28):

"Leaving that place, Yeshua withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." Yeshua did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Yeshua answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour."

The woman did not give up, until she melted Yeshua's heart with her faith. Bat Melech then asked me: "When do you give up, Emma? When humans say no? When you say no? When even God says no? How desperate are you? That woman knew she had just one more chance, that she had nothing else left, that unless Yeshua did something there and then, that would be the end for her daughter. She knew she was not entitled to His help, but she was too desperate to care anymore, she was at the end of her rope and she knew He was the answer." When I told her I feel like I can't see anything anymore, like it's all dead, Bat Melech told me that because of Yeshua's death, the power of His resurrection is over everything in my life, including dead dreams and visions about the future. She told me to go cry before God for what is mine and not stop until I see it live again. I would have given up that day, but God sent Bat Melech, as He did so many times in my life. Everytime I was frustrated with myself for not being all that I should be, she taught me how to give myself grace, she told me you learn patience by being patient and you are not born gentle but you become gentle by enduring through hard times.

I know she hates me mentioning all this, but I am a firm believer that you should tell people what they mean to you and the way they impacted your life for as long as you have a chance because when you don't have them anymore, frankly it really doesn't matter how many things you had to say. I know many people who's lives she touched. She said to me once: "Emma, light doesn't make a noise, light just shines." I know she has her own battles and I know she's also learning every day from others whom God uses in her life, but my point is Bat Melech shined in my life, and when she made a noise it was to make me laugh.

Todah rabah, Bat Melech.

Emanuela